Rules of engagement
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- This article describes the military term of the rules of engagement. For information about the movie with the same name see Rules of Engagement (film). For the television episode click here.
In military or police operations, the rules of engagement (ROE) determine when, where and how force shall be used. Such rules are both general and specific, and there have been large variations between cultures throughout history. The rules may be made public, as in a martial law or curfew situation, but are typically only fully known to the force that intends to use them.
US military ROE
The US Department of Defense officially defines ROE as:
- "Directives issued by competent military authority which delineate the circumstances and limitations under which United States forces will initiate and/or continue combat engagement with other forces encountered." [link]
- When military force may be used,
- Where military force may be used,
- Against whom force should be used in the circumstances described above, and
- How military force should be used to achieve the desired ends.
In addition to a typically large set of standing orders, military personnel will be given additional rules of engagement before performing any mission or military operation. These can cover circumstances such as how to retaliate after an attack, how to treat captured targets, which territories the soldier is bound to fight into, and how the force should be used during the operation.
The ROE are extremely important:
- They provide a consistent, understandable and repeatable standard on how forces act. Typically they are carefully thought out in detail well in advance of an engagement and may cover a number of scenarios, with different rules for each.
- They assist in the synchronization of political-diplomatic and military components of a strategy by allowing political commanders to better understand, forecast and tailor the actions of a force.
ROE failures
In any engagement, the ROE need to balance two competing goals: The need to use force effectively to accomplish the mission objectives and the need to avoid unnecessary force. This creates room for two types of error:- Excessively tight ROE can constrain a commander from performing his mission effectively, called a Type I error. It is typical for the political leadership to constrain the actions of military commanders. This is often a source of tension between the political leaders, who are trying to accomplish a political or diplomatic objective, and the military commanders, who are trying make the most effective use of their forces. Sagan [2] provides an excellent discussion of this topic. The UN Peacekeeper's ROE (see UNAMIR) during the Rwandan Genocide is a tragic example of too restrictive ROE.
- Excessively loose ROE can facilitate the escalation of a conflict which, while being tactically effective, negates the political objectives that the use of force was meant to achieve. This is a Type II or 'escalatory' error and an example of it may be the killing of Jean de Menezes on July 22,2005.
Current Issues
The late 20th and early 21st centuries witnessed an increase in the use of private military contractors. Such contractors are not bound by the same rules of engagement, standing orders, or levels of accountability as are members of a national military force.See also
- The Moscow Rules, an example of the use of the ROE term in spycraft
References
- USDOD. [DOD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms: NATO Only Terms]. United States of America: Joint Doctrine Division, J-7, Joint Staff, Department of Defense. December 17, 2003.
- Sagan, Scott D., Rules of Engagement, pp 443 - 470 in: George, A., Avoiding War: Problems of Crisis Management, ISBN 0-8133-1232-9. This well-written analysis provides an excellent overview.
- Private Military Companies, Taljaard, R. Yale Global Online 9 December 2003.[Modern Day Mercenaries].
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